Surviving Ichigo's Survival Instincts
by shinigami71
Summary: When Ichigo's parents are brutally killed by chimeras, she loses herself in her grief. Allowing her inner cat's survival instincts to rise to the surface to protect herself. The only problem is her inner cat only trust's Ryou!


Disclaimer: I don't own TMM!

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><p>Plot:<p>

While Ichigo is at school, the aliens decide to up the notch. They decide that she needs to be punished, for getting in their way of the destruction of humanity. They decide to go for her family. So while she's at school, the aliens send three chimera anima's after her parents. Macha goes off, but Ichigo is too far away and she arrives too late to save her parents. Griefstricken, Ichigo falls into depression, but not before killing the chimera anima.

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><p>It was a dark rainy day, when it happened. She should have known something was wrong. Somehow, Ichigo had actually made it to school on time. It was something that never happened, no matter how much she tried to be on time. Something would always distract her. Then again it was to be expected, considering Ichigo Momomiya was no ordinary girl.<p>

In fact, she wasn't even fully human. She was part cat. She was the idolized Mew Ichigo, the leader of the Tokyo Mew Mews. The Tokyo Mew Mew's are a group of girls injected with the DNA of endangered species. Their job is to fight and defend the humanities race from extinction caused by aliens. But we'll get to that another time.

Being a teenage woman in school was difficult, when you had a heroine for an alter ego, and as leader of the team it was her duty to be at every fight. No matter what. To not be there, she would be seen as weak, something that the team already thought. It wouldn't do to make things worse than they already were though.

She should have atleast known that something was wrong. She had been feeling her instincts pulling at her all day, but she brushed it off because Masha never went off.

Now though, the battle she very nearly missed, haunted her and would continue haunting her for the rest of her life. The battle had already been around six hours ago, but she could still see the images, as if burned cruelly into her mind.

She had never seen anything as horrible as the scene that awaited her, shockingly, at her own house. When Masha had started to lead her to the chimera anima, she never expected to find herself running to the aid of her own parents.

When she arrived, she found two large chimeras standing over the mangled corpse of her father, and another chimera just finishing off her mother. She remembered, screaming over her mothers dead body. The pain she felt seemed to go on forever, until eventually she only felt numb.

She didn't know what happened to the chimeras, but when she finally walked away from the burning house, they were gone. She walked as if in a daze to the park that contained Cafe Mew Mew. Finding her favorite tree, she climbed up and cried herself to sleep, the heavy rain went unnoticed in her emotional state. As did several bloody gashes that came from the chimeras, as she had attempted to reach her parents bodies.

Masha watched her mistress, worriedly. She could tell that her mistress was injuried and in shock. If she stayed out in the weather like this very much longer she would die from bloodloss either that or she would freeze to death. Which ever came first. Now was a time for her master to show up and save the mistress from the approaching death. Now was a time for Masha to switch the emergency alarm that had been placed in Ichigo's bell. After doing so, Masha sighed, now all she had to do was wait and try to keep Ichigo safe from further harm. Her master would be angry if something happened to the mistress.

**About a mile away from Cafe Mew Mew, Two miles from Ichigo's position**

"Where is Mew Ichigo?" Mew Mint yelled over the sounds of the battlefield. They had been fighting two large chimeras for over an hour now, and were quickly losing the rest of their strength.

Out of all of them, Mew Ichigo was the only one capable of taking out one of these chimeras on her own. No one knew why. Though Ryou, supposed it had something to do with the fact that Ichigo was for one, the leader of the Mew Mews, and two, Ichigo had been injected with the DNA quite awhile before the other Mews joined her. It was another reason she needed to be at every fight.

Ryou was beginning to worry the longer this battle continued. He knew that, while the other Mews were great at fighting chimera animas, Mew Ichigo was the true strength behind the Mew Mew team. She always dealt the last blow because she was the strongest. Something else she always did was make sure that she was at every battle. No matter what. For her to not be here after a whole hour, something must be wrong and whatever it was, it was sending his instincts wild.

Suddenly, a loud shrieking noise filled the clearing, drawing the attention of the chimeras. Ryou gasped as he fubbled to reach for his cell phone. He knew what that sound meant, but he didn't want to believe it. Mew Ichigo was his strongest Mew, for her to have been downed and injured severely enough for Masha to switch her emergency alarm. This was serious. He needed to pull his girls back. They would be killed otherwise, especially if their leader was down.

Looking down at the phone in his hands, he quickly read from which direction the signal was coming from.

"What was that noise, Shirogane?" Mew Zakuro asked, attempting to divert the chimeras attention from Ryou.

Ryou turned and began running in the direction of the cafe, yelling over his shoulder, "Pull back, Mew Mews. Draw them into the direction of the cafe. Mew Ichigo is that way. She's severely injured, but she's our only chance at defeating the chimeras."

Mew Lettuce ran after him, yelling, "But if she's severely injured as you say she is, then how will she be of any help, Shirogane-san?"

"Mew Ichigo is built stronger than you four. The only one of you that can possibly match up to her strength is Mew Zakuro. Don't take this the wrong way, but while you girls are strong, Mew Ichigo is at a completely different level than you four. Don't get me wrong she can be brought to her knees but once that happens you would still have to fight her survival instincts and her cats survival instincts are stronger than any of the Mews. We need to get to her before her instincts are set off." Ryou yelled back.

"I don't mean to sound like a wimp or anything, but what happens if her instincts are set off and we're not there?" Mew Mint asked, dodging an attack from the largest chimera.

"If anyone other than someone strong enough to handle her comes near her she could end up killing them in defense." Ryou said, watching the signal on his phone get stronger as he ran, barely noticing when they ran right past the cafe.

Mew Pudding looked at him in shock, before yelling in exasperation, "But Shirogane, you just said that Mew Ichigo was so much stronger than us! How are we going to control her?"

"You girls can't go near her. You're females, she'll see you as competition and she'll kill you. While she's in her survival instinct state she won't recognize you. You're job is to draw the chimeras in her direction. Nothing more. I'll take care of the rest." Ryou said, as he finally stopped running.

This is the place where the signal ended, so where was Ichigo? Ryou scanned the small clearing. The only people here was a couple of adults and that Aoyame Masaya guy. The adults screamed as the chimeras arrived and ran from the area. Masaya, however, seemed to have not noticed the chimeras at all. He seemed to be rather distracted by.. a tree?

Ryou snorted in amusement, 'He's got to be high on something!'

A feline growl resonated throughout the small clearing, drawing Ryou's attention to the tree Masaya was staring up. Following Masaya's gaze, Ryou groaned. Looks like he had found Ichigo. Problem is, it would seem as though Masaya had unwittingly awoken her survival instincts.

Ryou frowned as he observed her injuries. Her injuries were very extensive, though it didn't look like any bones were broken. She had so many gashes on her though, it was almost surprising that she hadn't died from the bloodloss and what's worse, it was still raining. So there was no telling how long she had been bleeding like that.

All of the sudden, one of the chimeras lunged for Masaya at the exact same time as Ichigo. Luckily, Masaya seemed to have enough presence of mind to dodge both attacks, rather ungracefully I might add.

Ichigo collided with the chimera, dazing both of them for a moment, and then the battle began. Ryou ran towards Masaya rather reluctantly, "Masaya, what the hell do you think you're doing? Get out of here you fool! Ichigo's not in her right mind right now. She's not going to recognize you."

Masaya turned to Ryou, angrily, "I'm not leaving her to fight that thing alone, Shirogane!"

Ryou rolled his eye's, "Masaya, you can't help her right now-"

"The hell I can't. Do you not see what I see, Shirogane? She's injured. She can't take those things on by herself!" Masaya yelled in Ryou's face.

"Would you shut up and listen to me, Masaya?" Ryou yelled back, annoyed.

Finally, Aoyame was silent and Ryou began to explain, "Look, you're not the only one who wants to help her, Masaya, but right now helping her would only get us killed. Ichigo is the strongest Mew Mew on the team. Not only because of her Mew Ichigo transformation, but also because of her survival instincts. Her survival instincts make her stronger, but they also make her extremely dangerous. Whenever Ichigo is severely injured, her survival instincts begin to kick in and it takes over her logical mind. Right now Ichigo is all cat. She may look human, but her mind is all cat instinct. Ichigo, as a human, knows you, but as a cat, she considers you a threat to her wellbeing. The only possible way to get through to her right now, is to wait until she's finished with the chimeras and then one of us could possibly approach her. Now listen to me when I say this, Masaya, Ichigo as a human, may like you, but as a cat, her instincts will guide her to the strongest male that can provide for her. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you, Masaya?"

Aoyame frowned, "So essentially, Ichigo's mind has been reduced to that of a wild cats. Exactly how long is she going to be acting like a wild cat?"

"I suspect until she heals completely." Ryou said, thoughtfully.

Masaya sighed, as he turned to watch the end of Ichigo's fight, "So who do you think she'll pick to trust?"

"The only thing we now for sure is that she'll pick someone with the cat genes." Ryou said, neglecting to tell Masaya that that could mean either one of them. Afterall, Strawberry is the only one who would know that information. Ryou grinned, remembering how she found out. He had very nearly lost control of himself when he saw her beneath him like that.

The battle is over and Ichigo is crouched down on all fours, growling at both, Ryou and Masaya.

"Ryou, you should probably get out of here. If what you said is true, then you're only going to get yourself killed staying here." Masaya said, taking a step closer to the crouching and growling Ichigo.

For a moment, Ryou would've obeyed, but no matter what he wanted, he couldn't do that to Strawberry. Besides it was her choice. He wouldn't make it for her, not like that. Ryou sighed, "Step back, Masaya. She's not going to trust you."

Masaya looked over his shoulder at Ryou, confused, "How do you know that?"

Ryou rolled his eye's, "She's lead by her instincts, if she was going to trust you she wouldn't have attempted to attack you when you woke her up."

Masaya frowned, as he backed away from the feral seventeen year old woman, "Then how do we calm her down? I'm the only one with the cat genes!"

Ryou snorted, as Masaya looked at him in confusion, "I don't see how Strawberry deals with you, but somehow she manages. You really shouldn't assume things, Masaya. Not everybody is just going to give you personal information like that."

Masaya glared at Ryou, "Are you saying that you have the cat genes, Shirogane?"

Ryou ignored Masaya as he abandoned himself to his instincts. Ryou dropped down into a crouch, slowly approaching her and stopping five feet in front of her. Letting her decide whether or not to trust him.

Finally, after a moment of observing him, Ichigo began walking towards him and then around him. She didn't know who this blonde male cat was, but something about him was drawing her in. This male cat had blonde hair and saphire colored eye's, and his red collar was giving him an edge that she found all too delightful. She sniffed at him, smelling only vanilla with a hint of mint, she stepped closer. Her mind was swirling with his scent almost driving her to insanity, but she wanted more of it. She stepped closer and closer, until she was practically in his lap.

"Strawberry?" The blonde male cat's voice rumbled through his chest, sending a chill down her spine. She didn't know if that was her name or not but it sounded familiar, so it must be. For some reason she felt the need to rub her head against his chest and as she did so, she racked her mind for the reason she felt that this male cat was so familiar.

"Ry-ou?" She purred, curiousily. She didn't know where the name came from, but the male cat seemed to respond to it.

"That's right, Strawberry. I'm Ryou. Now let me check over your injuries."

She shivered as she felt his chest rumbling as he spoke. It was a comforting feeling, being close to him. So she let herself curl up in his lap, knowing he wouldn't let anything happen to her. She fell into unconciousness, her injuries finally taking their toll on her.


End file.
